My father said he felt like a party to a falsehood when he sent
Griff's letter up to Hillside, and he indemnified himself by writing
a letter more indignant--not than was just, but than was prudent,
especially in the case of one little accustomed to strong censure.
Indeed Clarence could not restrain a slight groan when he perceived
that our mother was shut up in the study to assist in the
composition. Her denunciations always outran my father's, and her
pain showed itself in bitterness. 'I ought to have had the presence
of mind to refuse to show the letter,' he said; 'Griff will hardly
forgive me.'
Ellen looked very thin, and with a transparent delicacy of
complexion. She had greatly grieved over her grandfather's illness
and the first change in her happy home; and she must have been much
disappointed at Griffith's absence. Emily dreaded her mention of
the subject when they first met.
'But,' said my sister, 'she said no word of him. All she cared to
tell me was of the talks she had with her grandfather, when he made
her read his favourite chapters in the Bible; and though he had no
memory for outside things, his thoughts were as beautiful as ever.
Sometimes his face grew so full of glad contemplation that she felt
quite awestruck, as if it were becoming like the face of an angel.
It made her realise, she said, "how little the ups and downs of this
life matter, if there can be such peace at the last.
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